STURGIS, S.D. – The Sturgis City Council on Monday night faced first reading of the 2024 Budget a second time after some significant changes were made.
The council passed the initial first reading of the budget at their meeting earlier this month.
City Finance Officer Faye Bueno says she received final numbers on growth from the County Auditor, and it had dropped to 1.3-percent.
Bueno told KBHB News that she sent the county auditor the amount of property tax that the City was requesting and asked her to look the numbers over. After doing so, Bueno says they determined they would not be able to get the amount they were requesting due to the changes made two years ago at the State level on T.I.F. growth and how it is accounted for.
The city ended up with a 3-percent C.P.I. and growth of 1.3-percent for 2024 and Bueno says they included the stored C.P.I. from the last three years to come up with a new request.
In the previous budget reading, the council was looking at increasing the mill levy and asking for $685,000 more than last year. Bueno says with the changes, the most they are able to request would be $272,573 with a mill levy of 4.009-percent. That means the mill levy remains the same and would not go up as previously predicted.
However, Bueno says in order to meet the new request, they are forced to cut the budget by a little over $412,000.
Equipment Replacement would see the largest cut at $150,000. Open positions received the next largest cut amount.
After discussion, the council decided to hold a special meeting on Thursday, where they will again discuss first reading.
City officials will still need to pass a second reading. A special meeting is being planned for next week since the budget needs to be passed before the end of the month.
